Who Wore it Better?

Here are some photos of my granddaughter in an outfit that has been worn by every female in our family since the birth of my older sister Ann more than 65 years ago.  

Her mom, in this same outfit on the day she came home from the hospital in 1993.  I did not have a fancy camera and was apparently not very good at taking newborn photos.

And here is me back in 1961.  My Dad did have a good camera and knew what he was doing. 

The sweater, cap, and booties were made by my grandmother, Ethel Mills.  They are still in excellent shape.  The dress was a birthday gift from my grandmother's Sunday School class and has finally started to show its age, so I bought a new little white dress to continue the tradition.  

Make a Joyful Noise

Something new we did this year - we joined the choir!  Choir was such a big part of my life in junior high (school choir, church choir, and Accents), high school (A Cappella and church choir), and college (New Creations), but I haven’t been in a choir since 1984.  Terry briefly sang in a choir when he lived in Jacksonville, Florida over 30 years ago.  

We decided to try choir again, and it has been such a blessing to both of us.  It just keeps us singing a praise in our heart all through the week, and then we get to worship twice on Sunday morning!  We also loved singing Christmas music.  It was a special blessing when Terry’s parents joined us when we sang as a back-up choir for Keith and Kristyn Getty.  

And who would have thought it, but we met a lot of waterskiers in the choir!

She’s Here!

 After being in town two weeks early in order to not miss the birth, my granddaughter arrived while I was parking the car!  Rebecca went into labor on Thanksgiving Eve after a trip to the midwife that day.  Her labor was only about four hours, and apparently we waited a bit too long to head to the hospital.  She was on the maternity floor just 3 minutes before the birth!  

Joseph called me as I was entering the hospital, but I could not find a working elevator in time to get there!  I walked in the room, and the baby was already in Rebecca’s arms.  I did get to cut the cord and help take photos.

Her t-shirt definitely tells the truth

Babysitting while the parents and new baby are at the hospital.  Here we’re watching the Macy’s parade.

Rocking with Pop.  Our grandson can say “Pop” perfectly but still struggles with “Gran.” For now, I am “Dan”.  

Meeting little sister

The new baby “watches football” with me

Pop and his granddaughter

Thanksgiving

Celebrated a few days early since all the nurses in the family had to work on Thanksgiving Day!  I had done all the cooking ahead of time, and I’ll definitely be doing that again.  It was never so easy.  

Waiting for Baby

I missed the birth of my first grandchild due to Covid, so I wanted to be sure to be in Richmond in plenty of time for my granddaughter’s arrival.  Rebecca’s midwife thought she might go early AND fast, so I cleared my calendar and left town.  And then had two leisurely weeks to hang out before anything happened on the baby front.

I did have lots of fun times hanging out with Rebecca and being a Gran.

Also, got surprised by all the family showing up early for Thanksgiving to celebrate my 60th birthday!  

(Everyone but Noah and my new granddaughter).

Football is Back!

You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and Terry and I both missed being in a big crowd at a football game.  We went to one game in 2020, and it was sort of sad.  

This year football was back in a big way!  We went to the Ole Miss vs. Tennessee game, which turned out to be a fun one, though famously rowdy!  

Tailgating at Calhoun’s

The Vol Navy

The stadium was full!

Maymont

 Had a wonderful time visiting in Richmond in October.  We took a beautiful walk and had a picnic at Maymont.